Coronavirus: 6 more die, 94 more test positive

IEDCR has confirmed six more people have died of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the number of deaths to 27 in the country.

The fatality number is the biggest single day increase in the country since Bangladesh reported its first death on March 18.

Along with that, additional 94 people tested positive from the coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 424. 

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research (IEDCR) Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora made the announcement at an online press briefing in Dhaka on Friday afternoon.

Of the deceased – five men and a woman – three were residents of Dhaka, two hailed from Narayanganj, and one from Patuakhali, she said.  

Among the dead, four are aged between 30 and 50 while two other individuals were over 70 and 90 years old, respectively. 

The health authorities tested another record high of 1,184 samples in some 17 testing facilities across the country. Around 7,359 tests have been completed till now.

Of the samples, 94 people – 69 men and 25 women – were found to be infected with Covid-19. Of the infected, some 37 individuals are from Dhaka while 16 others from Narayanganj.

Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Professor Sanya Tahmina Jhora, during the briefing, said some 1,297 samples were collected in the last 24 hours and 1,184 samples were tested.

According to the DGHS Add DG, 701 tests were conducted  at nine institutes in the capital while rest 483 were conducted in eight institutes in seven divisions outside Dhaka.

In Dhaka, five cases have been detected in Jatrabari area, the IEDCR director said.

On March 8, Bangladesh had first confirmed three cases of Covid-19, a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus.

However, no patients recovered in the last 24 hours, and the number of recoveries stand at 33.

The fast spreading coronavirus, which was first reported in China's Wuhan, has claimed 96,791 lives and infected 1,615,059 people across the world till 5pm on Friday, according to worldometer.

As many as 362,538 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the planet.